Our gospel lesson text this morning is from 1 Chronicles chapter 11 That's found on page 293 of the Bible Saturday located in your your seats For using your own Bible Find the Psalms and go go to the left First Chronicles chapter 11. I'll give you a moment to to get there to turn there. This is God's word eternally true Starting in verse 1 of chapter 11 first Chronicles all Israel came together to David at Hebron and said We are your own flesh and blood In the past even while Saul was king you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns And the Lord your God said to you You will shepherd my people Israel and you will become their ruler When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron you made a compact with them a covenant at friend the Lord and They anointed David King over Israel as the Lord had promised through Samuel David in all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem that is Jebus The Jebusites lived there who lived there said to David you will not get in here Nevertheless David captured the fortress of Zion the city of David David had said whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander in chief Joe Ab's son of Zara went up first and so he received the command David then took up residence in the fortress and so it was called the city of David He built up the city around it from the supporting terraces to the surrounding wall while Joe Ab herself or the rest of the city and David became more and more powerful because the Lord Almighty was with him Here ends our reading now join me join with me as we give thanks to the Lord There's a response printed in your bulletin a responsive thanks the word of the Lord was pray I got in thought that we are grateful to you. Thanks be to you for your word You've given it to us for your glory and for our good We ask Jesus that you would preach to us through it this morning That spirit you would illumine this word bring it to light grant Those of us here understanding of it That we would come to give glory to you from it. We ask in Christ's name Amen We've experienced it when someone we like or we have great someone in whom we have great confidence is appointed or elected to rule over us Maybe in 1992 you rejoice when Bill Clinton won the election or maybe for you it was 2000 when George W. Bush won the White House If you're like my wife and I and you're watching You've been watching 23 episodes of 24 You're waiting for the finale this week. You saw the center David Palmer won the California primary and when he wins the primary the People that that believe in him and and thank you is to be a good leader the people that have confidence in him Rejoice and when they find out that they've won this primary and all the states that came along with it They've rejoiced and they have a party. They're excited At the prospect of their candidate David Palmer being their leader
maybe if you were a University of South Carolina gamecock football player a few years ago. He would have rejoiced When you heard that Lou Holtz had accepted the offer to come and coach your football team Everywhere lose gone Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, at least initially
He's done well. He's taking teams that were down in the dumps Not known for football schools not known for football and made them top 20 in the nation You would have rejoiced unless You were Gary McCrimman who's made it very clear to me that he doesn't appreciate Lou Holtz You would have rejoiced if you're playing at such a football dog as the University of South Carolina And now After two seasons, I believe it is in which they've done very well in both the people at the University of South Carolina Are rejoicing because they're no longer a dog as they face each team. I think they beat no higher state twice Why do we do this? Why do we rejoice? When a leader is placed above us When a good leader when someone we trust when someone in whom we have confidence is placed above us either points that are elected Above us Why do we rejoice in these circumstances? It's because we know that the quality and effectiveness of the leader Over us Always affects the quality of our lives if you like to fill out blanks You're welcome to do that. You don't have to do that as we go through the sermon this morning But if you like to we just had one there the quality and effectiveness of the leader who's over us affects the quality of our lives Good effective coach Good experience Effectiveness victories on the team that we're on good effective carrying boss at work a good work Environment in which you'd like to go to work in the morning in which enjoy your time there through the day Good effective teacher easy and enjoyable learning You'll learn much and enjoy it Good effective politicians good laws a good environment in which to live in We rejoice when a good leader is placed above us because it means the quality of our lives will be affected for the positive The message that God has forced this morning in part as the believers Had in Jesus as a king should rejoice and be glad your first blank. I skipped one there and left it to this point It's that we should rejoice that Jesus is our king Rejoice that's your number one there rejoice that Jesus is your king
Really? Rejoice It's not all I'm a I'm a Christian. I got it saved me ho hum Now I wait around and Life isn't so great and Have an outcome eventually No, it's not that at all if we say that we're missing out on the goodness That we're their experience from Christ being our king in our lives In great contrast life when we realize that Jesus is our king and realize what he does for us It comes a party a time of rejoicing Not that everything in our life is good Not that we don't suffer in this life God's guaranteed that we will suffer in this life But our lives can be a time of rejoicing because underneath it all underneath all the stuff in our lives The quality of our life and the quality of of experience we get to have at the sole level of our lives It's fantastic because Jesus is our king Why should you rejoice that Jesus is your king? Well, this gets us to our our number two here on our bulletin rejoice at Jesus Is your king rejoiced that Jesus as king is a great warrior for his people? Rejoice for Jesus as king is a great warrior for his people Today we have in a very formal way the form of it is that our president is our commander in chief He's ahead of the military But it's kind of only informed. Yes, he makes the decisions But it's not like an ancient time so an ancient times and biblical times The king with the one who led the troops out in the battle The king with the general the one who led the way for his troops So having your king also be a great warrior was tremendously important if you valued your safety if you valued the security of your landing and your family your house your nation Such a king we have in Jesus Jesus as a king as a warrior king has done Is doing and will do great things for you And me in our lives For these things that Jesus does because Jesus is a great warrior king with your choice We ask the question Jesus isn't this passage about David we just read this passage It's about David, isn't it? Well, yes, it is But Jesus in Luke 24 at the end of his life after his resurrection before his ascension he informed his disciples of something He said you know what all of scripture speaks of me Moses the law the prophets the songs they all speak of me All these things here's your blanket for shadow wings Of me the truth that you see in the Old Testament the patterns you see in the Old Testament our forms of the reality that I bring If you have somebody and there's a light shine on one side of him You have a shadow over there and the Old Testament was a shadow you can see the outline but you couldn't see the details of the real thing Jesus came and he was the real thing Jesus came in its gospel that he brought was the real thing it had been declared earlier in a shadowy form But when Jesus came it came in its reality and so the things that we see in Jesus Remember David is David and Jesus is the son of David David is King over God's people David is King over God's people in the line of David because he was one of his descendants Physically descended from David Called the son of David throughout his life the things that we see that are good about David and being King over God's people are magnified that's your black they're magnified they're increased in Jesus who is a much better King than his ancestor David ever was God's people and David's they rightly rejoice when David became their King They're at Hebron in this passage what we saw they rightly rejoiced because David was a great warrior Who had brought great victories victory after victory to God's people even when King Saul was King of Israel David was leading the troops and the people indicate that here in this passage And so the people rightly rejoiced because their King was now a great warrior not a fearful man hiding in caves like Saul Not a fearful man in a tent sending out a young boy to fight Goliath But the Goliath fighter who's self was now their King the one who had faith in this Lord to bring victories To God's people was now their King this passage underlines that David was a great warrior in several places You look at verse two look down in your your Bibles there if there's in the past People are saying this even while Saul was King you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns Skip a verse and go down to verse four David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem that is Jebus the Jebusites who lived there said to David you will not get in here Nevertheless David captured the fortresses. I am the city of David
Jerusalem was an interesting place. It is an interesting place Jerusalem is a city on a hill It was a very hard city to conquer if you were the ones living in Jerusalem and someone came to to attack you All you did was stand up on your walls and throw rocks down on the heads of the people coming down up the hill literally and So when God's people had come into it's a Israel With Joshua and then they had taken hold of the promised land This city Jerusalem remain uncongered to David's day Jerusalem which existed which which sat right in the promised land remain uncongered Because it was so hard to attack and to overcome So the Jebusites taught David they say Try all you want to but we've got plenty of rocks up here and watch your heads You're not going to defeat the city. You're not going to be enthroned here Verse seven David then took up residence in the fortress The fortress of Jerusalem also called Zion and so it was called the city of David because that's where David lived verse nine and David became more and more powerful because the Lord Almighty was with him the question is In what way is was and will Jesus be a greater warrior for his people than David was in Conquering this seemingly incongruable city Well, you're a hearing your bulletin
First of all how was Jesus a great warrior two thousand years ago. That's your blank was how was Jesus a great warrior two thousand years ago David had been a great warrior for God's people in the past So Jesus has been to Jesus won the battle for the souls of his people by his life death and resurrection and ascension in his life He lived perfectly without sin. He earned first people the favor of God because of his righteousness because of his Perfect life in his death Jesus born his body the sins of his people and was punished for those sins So that there is no longer any penalty that needs to be enacted against our sin Because it's already been enacted against Jesus because he bore our sins on the cross and the justice of God Against the sins of his people was satisfied there and Jesus resurrection he overcame death breaking its power So that we could no longer Look forward to death, but we could look forward to upon death having life eternal life spent with God
Jesus life Death resurrection and ascension Jesus won the battle as a great warrior for the souls of all who come to faith in him We saw how Jesus was taunted by the Jehovah's sites and then we remember what happened to Jesus When he was fighting it's a great warrior for us as people What happened Jesus when he's being crucified? He was mocked wasn't he? There at the edge of Jerusalem where David had stood and been mocked by the Jehovah's site Jesus hung on a cross and was mocked He saved others but he can't save himself come down off the cross if you are the son of God We have no king but Caesar That's what was said to Jesus when he was outside the walls of Jerusalem
Put another way what was said to Jesus was there so you can't obtain Jerusalem and rain over at his king We read's morning and he verse 12 that Jerusalem For the people of God today is not the city that stands today and geographical Israel Palestine But today for the people of God we have a different Jerusalem It's not geographical Jerusalem in the Middle East It's heavenly Jerusalem the Jerusalem above is the Jerusalem for the people of God Heaven itself that's a blank for you heaven itself is our Jerusalem and everything believing member of Christ church is a citizen there So the taunting of Jesus at the cross was very much like the taunting David received from the Jehovah's sites They've said to David you can't to send up the hills of Jerusalem You can't inhabit this place. You can't overcome the barrier Of these walls You can't live here. You can't inhabit this place. You can't rain as king here in Jerusalem
The people at the cross were in essence saying the same thing to Jesus. You can't can't break through to gain The Jerusalem above You can't break through death. You can't overcome that barrier You can't ascend up to heaven because you must be a sinner because you're on a cross You can't rain in Jerusalem Jesus because we've got you You're there and you're nailed little did they know that there was a Jerusalem above waiting to receive Jesus ascending the hell of Jerusalem above ascending the heavenly Jerusalem to sit down at the right hand of God and reign as king there over his people And all the mocking of the people was in vain because not only did Jesus ascend to and gain the heavenly Jerusalem for his people But he also took up here's your blank residence there He took up residence there to reign as king upon his ascension just as David took up residence in the earth laid Jerusalem to reign as king there over God's people So for this and Jesus we have a great warrior and king Conquering death obtaining heaven for us And so we as his people rejoice
Next how is Jesus in the present day how is Jesus a great warrior king for his people Well as we look historically since Jesus died and rose again and ascended to heaven The occurrences of more and more people being added to the number of the church for two thousand years now Is evidence that Jesus is raining as king and that he's a mighty warrior king Conquering more and more bringing more and more people like us under subjection Under his kingship into his kingdom It is Jesus who's behind the addition of every person to the church He is working and fighting and winning the battle for souls today That's your blank for souls today Jesus is a great warrior winning the battle for souls today So rejoice Rejoice when you think of loved ones and friends and co-workers people that you know who do not yet have faith in Christ Who have not yet obtained the Jerusalem above Through what Christ has done for them Rejoice because Jesus today is sitting in thrown in the Jerusalem above raining as king Conquering more and more subjects bringing them as he brought you and I into his kingdom Rejoice because there's hope for the very person you think who is far that the farthest away from faith in Christ Jesus is a mighty warrior and he can overcome any barrier and bring in any person To him in salvation So we rejoice and in your life today You can remember the believer that Jesus has ascended to heaven And it sat down at the right hand of the father is king and he is doing in his sovereign power as king Whatever places him His plans are not foiled His power is not overcome And what pleases him is whatever works together for his glory and for your good We read about that at the end of Romans 8 So rejoice Jesus is king. Here's your blank. Jesus is king is protecting you today In your life He will protect you all your lifelong He'll protect you from all the things he doesn't want to cross your path Doesn't mean you won't have suffering God uses suffering to bring us into closer conformity To being like him But we can rejoice and have confidence because there are no mistakes or random events in your life You can know that there's nothing that happens to you that's beyond God's control Because he is raining and ruling that sovereign king no happenings in your life well Because he is raining and ruling that sovereign king no happenings in your life
Our part from purpose and mean Everything that happens to you is by the hand of Jesus who reigns as king So everything that happens to you has purpose and meaning even when you can't see it even when you can't understand it
Be confident in this and rejoice that your warrior king Now thirdly our see here how will Jesus be a great warrior for his people We read we read about this as well this morning Heaven will not forever be the Jerusalem God people one day It will pass away from being our Jerusalem. That's your blank one day heaven itself will pass away as being our Jerusalem Just as geographical physical Jerusalem has already passed away
Today heaven is our Jerusalem, but in the future when Jesus comes back We read about it in Romans or revelations 21 when Jesus comes back There will be a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem that's your blank new and final Jerusalem for the people of God that added to this for whom Jesus is one the battle for their eternal life They will be delivered To this place and they will inhabit it The city on a hill This final Jerusalem this place where there will be no gears or sickness or sadness Because Jesus is conquered all those things And so we rejoice For at the end of our lives We get to go to the heavenly Jerusalem if Jesus is not yet come back And then when Jesus returns
He will bring us to that new Jerusalem Jesus said in John 6 I lose none of those that the Father has given me None of you who believe will escape my power in bringing them final deliverance to the new Jerusalem So we rejoice as we think about our lives and as we think about our future We have Jerusalem to look forward to heaven or the new Jerusalem Jesus will include us by his mighty power He has overcome our sin and he will resurrect us in our bodies to eternal life to a place of perfect bliss For he is the warrior king who conquers here's your blank who conquers all That would bring us harm And that is in our lives The odds were stacked against David when he was approached in Jerusalem Those before him hadn't been able to conquer it It was a city that was very easy to defend
There are a number of things that we look to in our own society where we can say, boy those odds were We're impossible We think to what's almost become now legend Of 1980 in the US hockey team They faced the Soviet Union in the semi-final game and they had played the Soviet Union What was it five date times prior in that year and gotten badly beaten each time And yet they won that game in the Olympics We forget that that wasn't gold medal matched that's such an insurmountable victory These were the eyes the soviet that that were for criminals He's a good guy is the BNHL All-Stars when they used to play the NHL All-Stars These were men playing our college boys
With Jesus there were seemingly impossible odds We're sinful all of us here are sinful How can a holy god ever accept us insurmountable odds And with Jesus the stakes are much higher and more important than the results of some kind of athletic contest The results the stakes of the quality of your life here on earth and the quality of your life after death Fortunately in Jesus we don't have a Wimp King like the people had in King Saul Who hid and was afraid when the battle looked too rough But we have a King who is like David a powerful warrior who wins the battles Even the seemingly impossible ones Said Ake that are the benefit for the good of God's people So what do we do last black we rejoice We rejoice that Christ has been made King over us We rejoice in his kingship because what he has accomplished for us Is for our good He protects us he defends us in this life yet All right Our God and our Father we are grateful For your love by which you sent Jesus a conquering warrior King Whoever came death in the power of death For us So that we who are in him Have overcome death in him
Jesus we stand in all of your power that overcame death and ascended To the heavenly Jerusalem above and sat down at the right hand of Your Father We're in all of you Because you did this and you won for us our salvation Because you did this and now you reign you rule You control all things for our good and for your glory And we rejoice in this For this means that when we die and when you come back Our deliverance through our faith in you
To the New Jerusalem is assured Not because we fought the battle not because we were great We haven't fought the battle. We're not great But because you are great and you fought the battle in one Over death and one and conquered us and defeated our sin Jesus. Thank you for taking the punishment for our sin on the cross to win this battle We ask that you would seal these truths in our hearts and cause us to In understanding these truths To love you more. We ask them Christ then Amen